In order to protect the environment of sea ports, harbors and waterways, navigable water craft have now been developed and placed into use for removing debris such as flotsam and jetsam which are removed by a basket or scoop mounted at the bow of the vessel to be movable under control of an operator into and out of the water to pick up the debris and dump it onto nearby barges or collection containers. Such craft are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,326,379 and 3,434,444 assigned to the same assignee as the subject application. Although such craft have been found to be quite effective in removing and handling floating debris, they still leave unattended the problem of removing weeds and other marine vegetation from the beds of waterways, canals, channels, etc. Such vegetation have been known to render waterways unnavigable and in other situations, it has caused serious blockage of the water flow.
Another deficiency of conventional pollutant control water craft is that their cooling systems for the engines which propel the craft are susceptible to blockage by debris and marine vegetation due to the fact that the craft operates in polluted or debris-ridden areas.